Marina service
Albany Emu Point Boat Harbour
About
Albany Emu Point Boat Harbour at a glance
Boat harbour in Oyster Harbour 9 km from the centre of Albany with 50 commercial and recreational boat pens, four jetties, a three-lane boat ramp and fish-cleaning facilities, plus a further 60 recreational pens owned and operated by the City of Albany.
Service area: Great Southern
- Marina type
- fishing boat harbour with marina
- Operator
- Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure (DTMI) / City of Albany
- Region
- Great Southern
- Water body
- Oyster Harbour
- Wet berths
- 110
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- boat ramp
- fish-cleaning station
- service jetty with single & 3-phase power and water
- boat lifter/slipway (Emu Point Slipway Services)
- shipwright
- hardstand
- universal-access floating ramp jetties
- chandlery nearby
- public showers
About Albany Emu Point Boat Harbour
Emu Point Boat Harbour sits inside Oyster Harbour, nine kilometres north-east of Albany's centre, guarding the western side of the narrow dredged channel that links the big landlocked estuary to King George Sound. It is a hybrid facility in the West Australian style: a state fishing boat harbour with around 50 commercial and recreational pens along four jetties, interleaved with some 60 recreational pens owned and run separately by the City of Albany, so two operators' fingers of floating berth share the same sheltered basin. Albany's fishing industry works out of here alongside weekenders chasing the Sound's salmon, squid and snapper, and the place has an honest, practical character of fish-cleaning benches, a slipway and a big trailer park rather than marina polish. The setting compensates. Emu Beach and its grassed picnic terraces sit immediately west, the Emu Point Cafe trades beside the ramps, and across the channel rise the granite flanks of Gull Rock National Park. The point itself was named for a survey ship that reached this coast in 1815, and the harbour remains where Albany's recreational fleet congregates; in summer the three-lane ramp runs queues from dawn as boats head for the Sound or slip into Oyster Harbour's sheltered shallows. Cruisers on the south coast regard it as the quiet, cheaper counterpoint to the town marina in Princess Royal Harbour. The two management regimes confuse first-time visitors, who find DoT pens and City pens side by side with different rules and contacts, but the arrangement has worked for decades and gives the harbour a capacity of around 110 berths in total. Winter quietens the ramps considerably, though the commercial side works year-round and the slipway rarely lacks a booking.
Marina facilities
The state-run side centres on a concrete loading jetty with single and three-phase power, water, lighting and vehicle access, rated for vessels to 50 tonnes displacement berthing at 0.15 metres per second, with a 5-tonne crane load and vehicle loads limited to 12.5-metre, 26.5-tonne units. The three-lane boat ramp has two floating universal-access jetties alongside, and a public toilet and shower block near the entrance is maintained by the City of Albany, as is the fish-cleaning station, a stainless-steel bench with six taps and waste facilities. Emu Point Slipway Services operates a boat lifter on site, reported by cruising guides at 60 tonnes, with a working shipwright and short or long-term hardstand, reachable on 0427 426 272. The City of Albany's Emu Point Boat Pens at the end of Swarbrick Street provide 45 berths on two floating finger jetties sized from 9 to 15 metres, each jetty carrying water and power outlets; the City does not take short-term, transient or liveaboard vessels, offering medium to long-term mooring only, with enquiries on (08) 6820 3000. There is no oil disposal facility at the harbour, so waste oil goes to the Hanrahan Road facility, and expired flares are accepted at the department's Albany office in Stirling Terrace. Fuel comes by tanker arrangement, and a chandlery trades at Watercraft Marine near the ramp. State pen users must meet the standard gas, electrical and insurance conditions, and the Albany office coordinates allocations and fees. The department's pens at Emu Point accommodate both commercial fishing vessels and recreational licence holders, and visitors are asked to contact the Albany office before arrival to confirm space, complete documentation and arrange payment. Trailer parking is generous and well maintained near the harbour entrance, with room to rig and de-rig clear of the ramp lanes even on busy mornings.
Local sailing knowledge
Getting in and out is the piece of seamanship that defines Emu Point: the entrance channel between Oyster Harbour and King George Sound is dredged but narrow, and the tidal flow through it runs hard enough that sailing dinghies and low-powered boats plan their passages around the stream. Once inside, Oyster Harbour is a shallow, sheltered cruising ground ringed by bush with good holding in mud; cruisers report a comfortable free anchorage just outside the marina area in about three metres. Through the channel, King George Sound opens up one of the south coast's finest bays, with Michaelmas and Breaksea islands for fishing and diving, the Cheynes II whale-chaser wreck in the shallows, and migrating whales in season. Albany itself, Western Australia's oldest European settlement, supplies everything from supermarkets to marine trades, and a shared path runs the seven kilometres along Middleton Beach into town, a favourite leg-stretch for crews. Practicalities are worth heeding: the harbour is a fair way from town, so arrive provisioned or budget for the drive; state maritime facility fees apply, with cruising reports quoting about $7.50 per metre per day for pens; and the Emu Point Cafe beside the ramps covers coffee, breakfast and fish and chips. Watch southerly swell wrapping into the channel after storms, and book the slipway ahead through the summer rush. Oyster Harbour's upper reaches reward a slow explore, with the Kalgan River entering at the northern end and birdlife thick along the fringing shallows; locals fish for black bream and herring there when the Sound turns nasty. Summer northerlies can funnel down the harbour and make the marina basin choppier than first-time visitors expect from an estuary, so spring lines and decent fendering are standard practice.